


Rising Tide

by jumblebumps



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Asexual Daud (Dishonored), DO NOT COPY, Do not repost, Fluff, M/M, MerMay, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, mermaid au, mermaid!Corvo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 19:03:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18923149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jumblebumps/pseuds/jumblebumps
Summary: Daud hasn't been marked by the Outsider for very long, but he's moving up in the world as an assassin and generally has a good handle on things.Then he meets Corvo.





	Rising Tide

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to participate in MerMay, but I can't draw, so Dishonored Mermaid AU! :D
> 
> Biiig shout-out to SeptemberSky for reading over this for me and just generally screaming with me over ideas
> 
> Title is a reference to "The Rising Tide" by The Killers. I've started this theme and now I'm running with it lol

Daud is no stranger to weird occurrences. His whole life feels like one weird occurrence after another sometimes, and quite frankly he's used to it, almost expects it now. Getting marked by the Outsider certainly hasn’t helped matters, but he knew that when he accepted the deity’s (creature’s?) offer. Sometimes since then, something strange will happen and he’ll almost get the feeling that someone is laughing at him from the Void.

This is one of those times.

He’s only just starting to make a name for himself, separate from the ones belonging to the men who stole him, and he’s already attracted a sort of...following. Geoff was the first, a fast-talking man from northern Gristol with Morlish mannerisms that smiles too wide and too eagerly for someone so willing to stab a man to death in an alley over some slight. But he also keeps candies in his pockets for the street urchins to coax them into telling him what they know. He’s more personable than Daud will ever be, and it’s his fault that Daud’s starting to attract street toughs, gang members, former whalers, and the occasional mercenary looking for back-up on a contract. That’s what Daud tells himself, at least. It wasn’t Geoff who brought home the first of the kids.

With the number of people they need to house increasing, though, they’ve had to find a new home. Coleman suggested an old warehouse situated near where the Wrenhaven opens up into the ocean. It isn’t as defensible as Daud might like, but it has room and few enough neighbors to give them some degree of security from the Watch. And besides, Daud likes being able to take walks by the seaside.

Gristol’s beaches aren’t anything like the ones of Serkonos. There’s no soft, fine-grained sand here; only rocks that begin large and get gradually more broken-down approaching the waterline. No seashells. Maybe there are some a bit further out, but the ocean’s too cold here for Daud to want to wade out into it. He’s already cold enough without needing to add being wet to his list of complaints, thank you very much, but the beach here is close enough to the one he remembers from childhood for his walks to leave him calmly content. They’re nice, especially with how loud the warehouse is starting to get these days. 

Today, though, as Daud nears the end of his route, a hollow in the stony earth that’s only uncovered at low tide, and is about to turn back towards home, he hears something that sounds like thrashing in the water. He almost doesn’t pay it any mind, attributes it to the sound of the waves on rocks or some seabird bathing in a tide pool, but then the new Mark on the back of his hand tingles.

Hm. Odd.

It’s like what happens when he gets near a rune (he hasn’t found one in weeks, and with the last one, a scar-like afterimage of Daud’s Mark appeared on the back of Geoff’s left hand after a handshake), but he doesn’t hear the tell-tale hum. The thrashing sound could be covering it up, though, and he’s eager to see what else will happen if he finds more runes, if maybe he can find a way to share his powers with more of his trusted associates, so he rolls up his trousers and kicks off his boots to brave the frigid water and go after it.

It isn’t a rune.

He’s heard stories about mermaids; ethereally beautiful ocean creatures who lure sailors into the ocean to drown and eat them like sharks, but those are fairy tales. They aren’t real. There’s no such thing. That’s just… That’s just too weird, even for him.

The Outsider must be having a fucking  _ fit  _ at his expense, because right in front of Daud  _ is  _ a mermaid. A long navy blue tail that’s easily twice the length of Daud’s whole body is coiled up on the rocks, blending into the torso of a young man with so much brown hair that Daud almost takes him for a woman. He has what looks like a hooked fishing net caught and wrapped around the broad translucent fins going down his tail and Daud realizes that the thrashing must have been him trying to free himself.

As Daud stares, dumbstruck at the sheer level of ridiculousness his life has come to, the mermaid sees him and stops thrashing. For half a second, they stare at one another in silence, then the mermaid hisses and bares his sharp teeth, yanking his tail up as close to him as he can manage. Some of the fins have spines in them and they raise up, like he’s trying to make himself look bigger than he is, and he flashes claws on fingers with navy blue-scaled webbing between them.

“Easy,” Daud says, hands up to show they’re empty. He hopes the mermaid can understand him because he’s aware how he looks with the healing cut that goes down from over his right eye to his chin and down his neck to the high collar of his coat. It’s still tacky from drainage in places and it itches like the fucking dickens, despite not being very deep. Daud just  _ knows _ it’s going to scar horribly, and it doesn’t make his hard features look anymore trustworthy.

He takes a step closer to the mermaid who twitches hard. He learns there are bioluminescent spots going along the lateral line of the mermaid’s tail because now they’re flashing white and blue in what looks to be a warning. Another spined set of blue fins on either side of the mermaid’s face (like ears, are they his ears?) flare up from under his hair and he slaps the surface of the shallow pool between them loudly with his caudal fins.

“Stay.  _ Back!” _ he snarls.

Oh good, he can understand him. Daud stops moving. “I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to help.”

The mermaid snorts.

“I do.” Daud looks at the netting. “Are you stuck?”

“I’m  _ fine.” _

“I have a knife, if you’d like it.” That makes the mermaid falter. He looks away, torn between accepting help from someone he clearly doesn’t trust and continuing to try to untangle himself, so Daud tries pressing again. “Cutting that off would probably be easier. And faster.”

The mermaid stares hard at Daud for several moments, considering him. His pupils are so big and round that Daud can’t even begin to guess what color his eyes are. “...Show me.”

Daud makes it a point to move slowly as he draws the knife hidden in his sleeve and holds it out. It isn’t much, but it’s a sharp point and a cutting edge in case he ever needs it. “See?”

The mermaid's fins do a weird...shiver...thing and the ones that he'd raised up relax. “Fine,” he says flatly, still not trusting Daud and given the situation he's managed to find himself in, it's hard to blame him. “Toss it over.”

Daud frowns at him. “That's a good way to get cut.” Can the mermaid even  _ reach _ the end of his tail? How does he think he's going to cut all that netting off on his own? “Let me help.”

His fins flare up again with a hiss. This is worse than dealing with a Void-damned cat.

“I just want to help, I promise. My name's Daud.”

There's a long period where there's only the sound of the water on the rocks behind him as the mermaid gives him a Look, but Daud is prepared to be patient. He'll have plenty of warning before the tide starts coming back in.

“What can I call you?” He isn't presumptuous enough to ask the mermaid for his name. Some of those fairy tales he remembers talked about the importance of names, how those who know the way can get power over a person by stealing theirs. Maybe giving his name freely to a fey creature is foolish, but Daud doesn't particularly care enough to come up with a lie. He has his own magic, after all.

The mermaid shifts again, and when his fins relax this time, the bioluminescent flashing stops, too. “...My name's Corvo.”

Maybe giving his name freely wasn't as foolish as he thought? “All right, Corvo, will you let me help? That can't be comfortable and it doesn't look like it's all that easy to move tangled up like that.”

“It's not,” he grumbles. Corvo stares suspiciously at Daud for a while longer before heaving a sigh. “Fine. Do it. But you'd better not try anything.”

“Don't know what there is to try…” Daud jokes as he carefully navigates over the slippery rocks. It would be just his luck for him to slip and crack his head open. Corvo lifts his tail up out of the water a little to give him access to the net, and he almost reaches for it until he remembers his gloves. “Oh.” Wet leather is not a fun prospect, and he can vaguely remember hearing something about saltwater being liable to shrink them. That may or may not be true, but Daud isn't looking to test it. “Hold on.” He puts the knife back in his sleeve before he tugs off the gloves. He's only just started wearing them to hide his Mark, but he doubts a mermaid will go tattling on him to the Abbey if he sees it.

As he bends down to begin working, Daud asks, “How did this happen?”

Corvo gives a dismissive shrug. “It must have come loose or been dropped, it tangled around me while I was swimming.”

“Hm…” Daud cuts off a section of net, nearly nicking a finger in the hooks sewn into it. “Will you be able to swim once I get this off?”

“I'm not injured, it's just heavy.”

“That's good, at least.”

“It is.” Daud doesn’t even have to look up know Corvo’s staring at him with intense scrutiny; he can feel it in the way the hairs on the back of his neck start to prickle. “...Why are you helping me?”

All Daud can offer is a shrug. He's not sure why, either, only that it would feel wrong somehow to just leave the mermaid to his fate. There must be a reason his Mark tingled the way it did.

“Seemed like the thing to do at the time.”

“Hmph.”

Corvo stares hard at Daud's hands the entire time he works. There are a handful of tiny hooks embedded under his scales and he hisses as Daud works them free, but he doesn't thrash, struggle, or do anything else that would make removing them more difficult. And Daud  _ is _ trying to be gentle, even if his fingers aren't made for that. With as hard as it was to get Corvo to let him near, he doesn't want him to go and change his mind.

Daud works his way through the netting wrapped around Corvo's tail and fins, slowly getting close enough to steal a proper look at his face. The fins on the side of his head are ears if the way they twitch in the direction of sound is any indication. There's a line of scales going from them down his jaw to his neck where Daud can see three slits on either side that must be gills, though they look closed tight at the moment. It's fascinating, seeing something that's only supposed to exist in stories real and up close, hopefully he can be forgiven if he stares.

When Daud is near enough, Corvo abruptly lurches forward to snatch at his left hand, practically scaring the shit out of him. The only reason he doesn't immediately yank his hand back is because Corvo's claws are clearly very sharp and very, very close to the vein in his wrist. They may not have been able to cut through the net, but they'll definitely be more than enough to cause plenty of damage if Corvo is so inclined.

He doesn't appear to be. Corvo turns Daud's hand over to look at the Mark emblazoned on the back of it, tracing over it the dark lines with a clawed thumb. “This is real?”

“...Yes?” He can't tell if the mermaid considers it a good or a bad thing.

“When did he choose you?”

“A few months ago,” Daud says warily. “Why?”

Corvo releases his hand to gather up his hair and pull it away to reveal his left shoulder. On the cap, going with the curve of the bone and muscle, is an imperfect imitation of the mark of the Outsider, albeit with thinner lines that haze into Corvo's skin a way Daud recognizes from his mother's Pandyssian stick-and-poke tattoos. “We worship him, too. The Leviathan?”

“We mostly call him the Outsider.”

“Hm.” Corvo reaches more slowly for Daud's hand this time, and Daud lets him examine it again as he starts humming something not entirely human-sounding low in his throat. It sounds like whalesong, and Daud can’t help but find it beautiful. No wonder these creatures are said to lure sailors to their deaths. He's mesmerized by the sound and how Corvo's tracing the lines of his Mark with the tips of his fingers until the mermaid releases him.

As Daud shakes himself and returns his attention to the remains of the net, Corvo asks, “Do you collect runes?”

“Sort of.” He cuts off the last of the netting and tosses it aside. “They help me learn new magic. Why?”

“I want to thank you for helping me.”

“You don't have--”

Corvo cuts him off by grabbing a fistful of Daud's jacket to force him to meet his eyes and says, “And  _ you _ didn't have to help. Especially not after I threatened you like that. I would like to apologize.” He smirks, eyes glinting with amusement and Daud notices that his pupils have shrunk enough for him to tell that his eyes are a golden brown color. “You should  _ let _ me apologize.”

Was that display what passes for a credible threat to a mermaid? It seemed tame compared to what Daud's accustomed to, but all right. In fact, “All right,” is the only sentence he's able to string together as Corvo stares him down.

“Good!” He smiles sweetly and releases his hold on Daud, who has the distant thought that he's just been manipulated. Corvo adjusts to walk himself back into the ocean on his hands, undulating his long tail to give him more leverage. “I'll be right back, wait here.” He looks over his shoulder briefly at Daud before launching himself into the surf where he disappears with a final flick of his tail. Even with a transversal, Daud isn’t fast enough to watch him swim away.

* * *

After Corvo returns with the rune, Daud doesn't see him again for a few days. He doesn't expect to, and he tries--very hard, he might add--to forget the excited shine in Corvo's eyes as the rune turned to dust in Daud's hands or how the mermaid was able to disappear in the surf instantaneously, even as Daud watched. It's fine, he tells himself. He's had his brush with the fantastic and mythical, it's time to move on. There are mouths to feed and contracts to complete, Daud just doesn't have time to waste searching the horizon for a flash of bioluminescence or a navy blue tail.

Corvo, it seems, has other ideas.

Two days after Daud meets him, the kids come barreling into his office, all kinds of excited because they found a rune washed up on the beach. It isn't unheard of; mudlarks find runes and bonecharms buried along the river all the time. Daud doesn't think anything of it past it being a stroke of good luck. But then Yuri drops off another one a day later, also saying she found it on the beach near their warehouse, which strikes him as odd. When he comes home to another one on his desk two days after that, he's flat out suspicious.

He goes looking for Corvo.

He doesn't know what he expects; the ocean is huge and Corvo  _ must _ have other things to do besides wait around near the shore. Still, Daud maneuvers his schedule to allow him time to make several passes along the beach. He can't think of anything else he can do besides getting a boat, but if Corvo is the reason for the sudden influx of runes, surely he'll come back at some point, right?

Right?

Around his third full-length pass, the thought occurs to Daud that this is  _ completely insane, _ even for him. He's done a lot of less-than-intelligent things in his life, made some questionable decisions, but this… He's literally pacing back and forth on a beach and hoping to see a  _ very specific  _ individual...well, what amounts to an individual  _ fish, _ really. Maybe he's finally--

Something small sails through the air, inches from his face, and he reflexively transverses back, hand reaching for one of his knives. He looks around wildly for the threat, but doesn't see anything until a shrill whistle blows in with a crashing wave. Out in the water is someone with long brown hair, waving.

Corvo.

The mermaid's head disappears, but this time Daud can follow where he is as he swims to shore. Corvo must be letting some of his fins trail along the surface of the water; it ripples outward as he approaches. He leads him over near the hollow where they'd originally met. The tide is only just starting to recede, though, so Corvo resurfaces at the edge of a still mostly submerged tide pool and sits on the ledge that faces the ocean. He flashes his too-sharp teeth in a grin as Daud approaches.

“I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever come back,” he teases, very obviously pretending to be upset.

Daud can't help but answer with a wry smile and, “I wasn't aware I was expected.”

“Then I'll have to be more obvious, good to know.” Corvo adjusts to slide backwards into the tide pool, laying across it like a bathtub with his tail trailing out and stares intently at Daud, almost unblinking.

The intense, inhuman scrutiny should be unnerving, but Corvo's gaze feels different from the Outsider's. It's warmer somehow, and something about it makes the tips of Daud's ears start to flush. He shifts his weight on his feet. “...What?”

“Your wound looks better,” Corvo says, eyes still on him even as he reaches out to grab Daud's arm to tug him closer until he sits on the rocky edge of the tide pool. When he reaches up to gently brush a thumb where the cut on Daud's face crosses his chin, Corvo adds, “It's healing nicely.”

Void… Daud feels like he dissociates for a second because he hears himself respond, “It's going to scar.”

“Hm.” If Daud didn't know better, he'd almost want to say that Corvo looks concerned about him. It makes him simultaneously want to squirm and settle in equal parts, but it's only there for a moment before Corvo sighs as he lets his hand drop from Daud's face. “Did you get the runes I left you? There were three.”

Oh, he  _ knew _ it. “My people got them to me.”

Corvo quirks his head to the side. “Your pod?” At Daud's blank stare, he clarifies, “Your family. Parents? Children? Mate?”

“No.” Daud's maybe a bit too quick to shut that down. He's...well. He's had people interested in him before and he's tried, but he's never quite...reciprocated in the way they were hoping. It suits him just fine; the less vulnerabilities he has the better, in his line of work. “Nothing like that. Employees, friends maybe. There're some kids we look after, but that's it.”

“Sorry, I was just curious.” Corvo doesn't seem insulted, at least.

“It's fine.” After a beat, he asks the question that's been bothering him, “Why were you bringing me more runes?”

“I wanted to help.” He nods at Daud's gloved left hand. “And I'd hoped to see you again.”

“...Why?”

Corvo shrugs, grinning a bit. “You're interesting,” that sounds so close to something the Outsider would say that for a brief second, Daud wonders if he's being tricked, “and I liked you. I thought it might be nice to get to know you.”

Daud just stares at him, waiting for Corvo to take it back or change his mind. When he doesn't, he says skeptically, “Really?”

“Yes?” Corvo sounds genuinely confused.

Daud stares at him hard. “...Is this a habit of yours?”

“Nope, just for you.”

Well, that raises concerning questions about Corvo's judgment of character. Still, how many can claim to have attracted the interest of a mermaid and the Outsider, let alone both. “...All right.”

Corvo smiles brightly in response and the bioluminescent patches on his tail start to blink and twinkle like stars. “Excellent.”

* * *

They start seeing each other more often after they work out something of a schedule between them. Sometimes things happen and one of them can't make it, but they manage more often than not. Corvo still brings Daud runes he finds and avoids answering where he finds them consistently enough that Daud eventually stops asking. His power grows with each one; soon he's able to share his Mark with nearly all his men. He can transverse further and even learns how to slow down and eventually stop time. It's exciting.

They talk. Corvo isn't nearly as alarmed as Daud feared he would be when Daud tells him what he does for a living. Soon Corvo’s asking questions to cajole him into talking about completed jobs. If Daud has his way, though, he talks more about his men--“the Whalers” they’re starting to call themselves. He talks about how Geoff is considering, against all reason, getting something heretical tattooed on his face and head now that they're “professional heretics.” He talks about how he's worried that the ringing in Coleman’s ears is getting worse if the way he sometimes doesn't hear Daud speaking to him is any indication. He talks about Yuri disappearing for a month without saying anything only for her to return like nothing happened, her only explanation that she had to go back to Wei-Ghon. He talks about Kieron, one of the kids Daud's found and brought home, finally starting to talk to the adults in more than single syllable sentences.

Corvo listens and in turn tells Daud about his family (his “pod,” he calls them) that lives further south, nearer Serkonos, about his mother and his sister and the dozen other mermaids he grew up with before he left to look for adventure. He tells stories about massive whales who let him sleep peacefully on their backs and vicious-sounding sharks that hunt like a pack of wolves and are more than content to allow Corvo to join in. He tells Daud about the strange creatures that sometimes come up from the deeper ocean at night to hunt, how some beasts dwarf even Corvo and how others shine all over with bioluminescence similar to his own that they use to attract prey or to communicate.

When the weather warms as much as it ever will in Dunwall, Corvo persuades Daud to join him in the surf, against his better judgment. He kicks off his boots and removes his gloves and clothes except for his trousers, pretending not to notice the way Corvo looks intently at the scars he has all over from years of harsh treatment. The water is much too cold for Daud's tastes, but Corvo manages to coax him out far enough for the waves to stop threatening to crash over the top of his head. It's dusk and Daud doesn't like the idea of meeting any of those sea creatures Corvo's told him about, but when he says so the mermaid just hums deep in his chest in a way that Daud swears makes the water vibrate. He surrounds Daud with his tail in a wide loop, his bioluminescent patches beginning to flash similarly to how they did when he was trying to scare Daud away that first time, and the mermaid explains that the light will keep sharks and hagfish away.

It's still fucking  _ freezing, _ but Daud just tries to keep his focus on Corvo, not like that’s hard. He’s… Corvo’s pretty in a way Daud doesn’t normally notice with people, and that’s even more obvious when he sees Corvo in the water like this with his long hair flowing around him and his fins undulating in rhythm with the waves so that he doesn’t have to move his tail to keep in place. When he laughs at Daud, the flashing lights in his tail stutter back into the star-like twinkling that Daud’s been seeing with increasing frequency during their time together. Every time he’s asked about it, Corvo gets cagey and dances around telling Daud what it means.

Sometimes Corvo brings him gifts besides the runes: little trinkets from sunken ships, sea shells the likes of which Daud never thought he’d see outside of Serkonos, and shark teeth Corvo collected when they fell out during a hunt. He doesn’t just bring them for Daud, either. The kids have been finding similar treasures more and more frequently along the beach, much to their glee. Some of the adults are perplexed by the shift, but the kids are too happy about it for anyone to question any of it too hard. When Daud asks about it, Corvo says he just wants to make the children happy. Daud can’t help but appreciate his efforts.

It isn’t until Daud shows up with a noticeable injury one day that Corvo brings him a bone charm. Daud tries to say that no, he’s fine, a target was just a bit trouble and managed to give him a slight limp. It isn’t anything to be concerned about, it happens. Corvo glares at him for several minutes and the next time they meet, he tosses a charm carved from off-white whalebone and accented with copper wire to Daud.

“What’s this?”

“You said you don’t have a healer,” Corvo explains. “That will help. But you have to be in water for it to work.”

Daud turns it over in his hands. It’s a different style from the charms he’s used to finding, the ones made by witches, and its song has a strange rumbling quality to it, but it does repeat Corvo’s description of its abilities. “Where did you find this?”

“I made it.” Daud looks up and Corvo just blinks at him. “What?”

“You made this?”

“For you, yes. You’re welcome.”

Daud has to fight back something that he distinctly hopes isn’t a blush. “Thank you.”

* * *

“How do you make a bone charm?”

Geoff is slow to look up from the tattoo design he’s sketching at the kitchen table and Daud does  _ not _ like that smirk he’s getting. “Bone charms, hm?” Geoff sets his pen down and leans back in his chair, tilting it to balance on the back two legs. “And I thought you were the ‘expert’ on all things heretical?”

Not this again… Daud glares at him, arms crossed over his chest. “Can you help me or not?”

“Maaaybe,” Geoff says casually. “I’m gonna need some details, though.”

“Details about what?”

“Liiike, who’s it for?”

“What do you mean ‘who’s it for?’ It isn’t ‘for’ anybody.”

“You’re a shit liar, Daud.”

_ “Geoff…” _ Daud practically growls in warning, but the asshole isn’t at all perturbed, just waves him off.

“Okay, maybe not normally, but you are right now.” Geoff considers him for a moment before snapping his fingers decisively. “It’s for your mystery sweetheart, isn’t it?”

Daud...must not have heard him correctly... “My  _ what?” _

“Your sweetheart,” Geoff repeats calmly, like he hasn’t just suggested something entirely preposterous.

“I don’t have a  _ ‘sweetheart!’” _ Daud hisses, but he can feel some color start creeping up into his ears at the thought.

“Hmm. Right. What about all those little gifts that’ve been appearing on your desk and bookshelf?” Geoff rests his chin on his bridged fingers as he smirks at Daud. “I’d  _ maybe _ believe they were things you just picked up around if half of them weren’t bloody  _ seashells. _ And then there’re those long walks you’ve been disappearing on for months… Half of us have a pool going, you know. About whether or not you’ll bring them around to meet the rest of the family.” When Daud just keeps staring at him, Geoff’s expression almost softens. “What? We’ve gotta make sure whoever the boss is sweet on is good enough for ‘im.” He kicks out the chair across the table from him and nods for Daud to sit. “Let’s talk, then.”

Daud has little choice but to flump down. “I’m not--” he begins, but Geoff cuts him off.

“First off, I’m not trying to make fun of you,” he clarifies, something soft in his tone that Daud feels like he shouldn’t be tolerating, “I’m genuinely happy you’ve found someone you like. You haven’t really come across as interested in anyone. At all.”

“I’m not.”

“I am sensing a ‘but’ somewhere in there?”

Daud sighs heavily and drops his forehead onto the table. “But I don’t know…”

“You don’t  _ have _ to know. No one says you’ve got to have all your shit figured out. Are the two of you friends?”

“I think so.”

“And where do they rank on your list of people you’d want to be around, given the choice?”

He thinks for a moment. He gets tired of people and needs to retreat to his own space after a while to be alone, even people like Geoff who he’s known for years and considers to be friends. It might just be the nature of his and Corvo’s...whatever they have where they can’t be around each other for extended periods of time, but Daud can’t recall getting to the point where he’s gotten tired of his company. 

“...Towards the top,” he mutters.

“And do you care about them?”

The answer to that is surprisingly easy and Daud looks up to give Geoff a half-hearted glare. “Yes, of course.”

Geoff returns his look with a sage smile. “Then I think you should talk to them. I’d say that with all the presents they’ve been giving you that they  _ probably _ like you, too. Communication is key.”

Not wanting to think about how much sense Geoff’s making, Daud tries a redirect. “So can you help me make a bone charm or not?”

“Is it a present for your person?”

There’s going to be no avoiding that question, is there? “...Yes.”

“Then I’d be happy to.”

* * *

Daud feels ridiculous.

The bone charm Geoff helped him make feels all wrong. It hasn’t been corrupted, it’s not that, but Daud’s been carrying it for the past several days and he still can’t make sense of its song. Geoff can’t either, but that’s not uncommon; he and the others usually need to bring them to Daud to parse out their effects. Even so, they can usually figure out what they do if they carry them around long enough and Daud has had this one for almost a week, he should have noticed something by now. He’s worried it doesn’t do anything, but Geoff convinced him to at least show Corvo he tried. Maybe they can use it as a jumping-off point for the conversation Daud is both dreading and anticipating.

He’s a little late to meet with Corvo; the mermaid is already waiting in the tide pool when he arrives. When he sees Daud, he waves and smiles. “You almost had me worried,” he says, not entirely serious.

“Sorry.” Daud can't make himself meet his eyes, afraid he'll lose his nerve, and instead fidgets with the bone charm in his pocket. Before Corvo can say anything else, Daud takes a deep breath and says all in a rush, “I'm sorry, I tried to make you this because that bone charm you gave me will be really helpful and I couldn't believe you made it, it felt more personal than everything else and I  _ really _ should have given you something in return for all the gifts before now, and I don't know why I haven't, but I tried to make you this bone charm but I think I messed up? It doesn't seem to do anything; I've been carrying it around for  _ days _ and it isn't affecting anything, and its song sounds strange.”

He takes the charm out of his pocket to hand to Corvo. It isn't as fancy or complicated as some Daud's seen, just a bit of some already small bone that he sanded down to make a smooth cylindrical shape. He doesn't really understand what the runes he etched onto it mean, but they'd felt right at the time. On both ends of the bone, Daud wrapped it with shiny copper wire so that it could be attached to leather straps and worn as a bracelet, if that's what Corvo wants.

When Corvo reaches out to slowly take it from him, Daud continues. “I don't expect anything, and I've never actually done something like this, but… I care about you more than I ever thought I would about anyone. I didn't think it was something I could do for a long time?” Corvo's examining the charm intently, thumb smoothing over the runes before he holds it closer to his ear, like he's trying to listen to the jumbled song. Daud knows he should stop talking and let Corvo speak, and yet he can't seem to make himself shut up. “But as I've gotten to know you more, it feels like you're different? Not just because you're a mermaid either, because that does make you different, but that's not what I mean. No, wait, that sounds stupid, I'm…”

He finally looks up because Corvo is chuckling and it's definitely at him, but the bioluminescence in his tail is flashing in the star-like twinkling pattern again, softening it to something fond rather than mocking. It distracts Daud enough for him to pause and actually think about his words.

“Corvo… I don't know if any kind of a relationship would ever work between us, but I...think I'd like to try if you're all right with it? If not, that's fine, and nothing has to change, I'm not even entirely sure what it is that I want, but I do know that I care about you a lot.”

His heart wants to drop when Corvo starts to shake his head, and what stops it is that Corvo is still  _ chuckling. _

“Has anyone ever told you that you're a bit of an idiot?” he says, looking up from where he's tying the bone charm bracelet to a wrist. “Because for someone so smart, you really, really are.” He finishes and Daud has to blink several times to make sense of...whatever he's seeing. The lights in Corvo's tail seem to expand to encompass all of it and the edges start to blur, as if Daud's suddenly gone cross-eyed. His ears tuck up into his hair and the lines of scales on his neck and hands recede (to where, Daud has no idea). Meanwhile, the whole of his tail starts to fold in on itself and shorten until, before Daud's eyes, it changes into a very human pair of legs.

Despite Corvo suddenly being very,  _ very _ naked, Daud can't help but stare as he flexes and tests his new legs. He leans heavily on the rocks surrounding the tide pool to pull himself to his feet. The second he starts to wobble, Daud reaches out to catch him.

“Daud.”

He looks up and Corvo is giving him such a soft expression that he feels himself start to blush. He stays perfectly still as Corvo reaches up to gently grasp his jaw in both hands, pulling him closer.

And he kisses him.

**Author's Note:**

> And so it came to pass, Corvo and Daud started dating. Corvo was able to curb some of Daud's more self-destructive tendencies so that when Burrows approached Daud with the assassination of the Empress, Daud decided to warn her instead. Jessamine made Daud her new Spymaster. Corvo moved into the Tower with him and the Whalers where he became the Bane of all Emily's tutors. Everyone lived and was happy and healthy except for Burrows. He, in fact, was shanked to death in prison. Nobody missed him.
> 
> (And Corvo kept his hair long so Emily could braid it.)


End file.
